Proof of Life!
Photo and write-up courtesy of opiejeanne.
We had a great time on Sunday, and I feel so lucky to have a group of BJ jackals nearby enough that we can get together like this sometimes.
From the left: Yutsano, opiejeanne, mr opiejeanne, Beautiful Plumage, Ravensara, and Casey L.
I had surgery on Hallowe’en to correct my drooping eyelids, so my face is still puffy and bruised, and I have big bags under my eyes. Everyone else looked great.
Open thread. (for anything except circular firing squads, attacking dems, and re-litigating anything)
Major Major Major Major
Glad to see we’re all still on this mortal coil together! Should probably do a Denver meetup again some time.
Open thread…
I’ve been learning crochet and making some cute stuffed things, here’s a tonberry, from Final Fantasy.
And… If you want something very technical to occupy your time, here’s a pile of info on how to self-host almost all of bluesky, which is pretty neat.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I’m all for a Denver meetup that’s broader than what I’ve been doing.
Also willing to coordinate/host. Well, after Thanksgiving when I’m a) home and b) done with stuff I’ll need to do once I get back home.
I love Proof of Life posts. We had an informal one earlier in the month, me and JAFD. Turns out, we’ve known each other for 20 years.
John S.
Sorry I missed this meetup! I have had the pleasure of meeting many of these Seattle area jackals.
Next time for sure.
ArchTeryx
From dead thread downstairs:
@Bupalos: Yes, right wing parties are on the rise worldwide, but not every place is fascist. Canada has some good places that can act as jumping off points or safe houses. Even if the Conservatives have a landslide election, how far right Canada is likely to go is far less so than how far right WE are willing to go. They won’t be in imminent danger of being rounded up and tortured to death by John Yoo’s goons there.
It’s time for a new Underground Railroad, and that’s what I am working with certain people to set up. Even saying that much on this platform is now a security risk, so that’s all I am going to say.
Major Major Major Major
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: what have you been doing re Denver?
Gin & Tonic
We are in major drought here in New England. It’s been one gorgeous blue-sky day after another, but it’s the driest autumn on record. Red Flag warnings every day.
stinger
Hey, everybody! Looking good!
WaterGirl
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Thanks for the reminder!
I knew I had a 2-person meetup post to do, and I couldn’t remember who so I couldn’t go back to find the message! It was JAFD.
edit: Okay, I put the post together just now. I’ll put it up this evening or on Friday.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Major Major Major Major:
Getting together one-on-one. Have another person to rope in but again, I’ve just been too busy or out of state or both to work that. I wanted to do that first (get the 3 of us together if possible), then broach an expansion.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major: Very cute!
Baud
Nice.
TBone
I finally got in the mood to go through some of the treasure I hadn’t yet, given to me when our hundreds-years-old farmhouse clean out was started by my Great Aunt before she died. For starters, I have a 1902 green hardback of this book by Robert G. Ingersoll:
https://archive.org/details/worksofrobertgin01ingeiala/page/n7/mode/1up
Fascinating stuff. I am SAVING THE BOOKS.
Ingersoll was a famous orator and now I can read all of his lectures as my ancestors did, turning the very same pages.
Mr. Ingersoll gave the eulogy for Walt Whitman.
Old School
Looks like fun!
Old School
@Major Major Major Major: Cute!
dmsilev
Speaking of proof of life, figured I should check in. Nothing dramatic, just a huge pile of real-world work on my plate over the last couple of weeks (hard deadlines focus the mind…).
Starfish
@Major Major Major Major: Oh. That is amazing. I love doing amigurumi, but I have been stuck mid-wooble for a few weeks now due to not setting aside time to finish.
TBone
@ArchTeryx: a Jackal requested my email address and my first letter to her last week was about my fantasy underground railroad haven here using my cozy finished basement. I said I’d stash Liz Cheney!
Ramalama
@TBone: Love it. Lucky you.
TBone
@Ramalama: and that’s just the first one on top in the huge bin! I can hardly wait to see what else I’ve got. I’ve already been given major treasure in the form of family deeds going back to the days of King George in Assonet Village, MA (now Freetown), documents from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, boxes of family letters going back that far, etc.
I’m going to go through this huge box a little at a time to stave off cabin and other fevers this winter.
Scamp Dog
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m also up for getting together. After Thanksgiving sounds like a good time frame.
CaseyL
Thanks for posting this, WG! It was so fun to see everyone who could come, and we missed the ones who couldn’t.
Shakti
Cellist plays Theme From Schindler’s List in the suburbs of southern Beirut
Kayla Rudbek
@TBone: I love Robert Ingersoll’s work! And much of his work is still applicable today…
TBone
@Kayla Rudbek: 💜
I am honored that my Great Aunt chose me to be the keeper of all of these books and documents. Also I have some very old daguerreotype photos of certain of my ancestors.
Ramalama
@TBone: Oh so so cool.
There’s a working dairy farm next door to the Patriots stadium (the home of Masshole football) and I believe she told me her family had a land grant from King George as well. I loved visiting that farm, and it’s strange the info I retain on people who I meet in passing.
TBone
@Shakti: 💔
I had to leave the theater for a bit during that movie because I was crying so hard I was embarrassed.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
A MO meet up needs to happen too. This fall has been too busy for me to get something organized. This winter or spring is a better time.
NotMax
Putting out feelers about the possibility of a Zoom get together on Turkey weekend? For general camaraderie and commiseration.
Not something I’m capable of orgabnzing, will have to leave that up to the more tech savvy.
TBone
@Ramalama: 💙😍
Good thing I saw the movie Charade in time to realize (be reminded) I had some pretty damn cool postage stamps on the letters!
Ohio Mom
Oh Opiejeanne, all I see is your usual radiant smile — I recognize you (and your Mister) from photos of previous meet-ups.
stacib
@TBone: Absolutely serious question – what do you do with all of that stuff? My mom just died, and there are tons of pictures on the wall in the “hall of fame” at her house of ancestors that this next generation has zero interest in learning about. So, it’s looking like I’ll be the last one with it (and, as mentioned before, the china), and I’m totally at a lost on how to handle. Thanks for any tips.
Steve LaBonne
@TBone: Ingersoll is one of my heroes. He was a fighter for human rights and freedom in areas other than religion- he spoke out vigorously for women’s rights and against racism. “This is my doctrine: Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance.”
Steve LaBonne
deleted
Ramalama
@TBone: Never saw Charade. It looks good.
Funny about the Robert G Ingersoll book…it opens to a kind of table of contents one of which is Farming in Illinois. I had just recently stumbled upon an obituary of a relative in Chicago (who I never heard of) and mention of her brothers (who I had met and heard of) working the stock yards, one later having a seat at the Board of Trade. Found another (was not looking but stumbled also) obit of my great grandfather and a long tale of him working his farm and preferring a horse and buggy even after cars were more mainstream. Also recently finished a novel (So Big by Edna Ferber) that was so unusual and so compelling, and it’s a fictionalized history of farming in …. Illinois set in horse and buggy times.
My first job outside of babysitting was detasseling corn. A most hated job.
Anyway, nice little synchronicities (ok loose). I’ve bookmarked the link at archive.org to continue reading when I get time.
RaflW
Heading to the airport soon. BF had a multi-day conference, so I bugged out to CO for some very early season snow. And caught a mild cold on Tuesday. BF almost bailed on meeting me out here, if he gets a cold it tends to hit him harder, and really no one likes a sinus thingy with cough at 9,000 very dry feet of altitude.
But I’m not in bad shape, and we both felt like 5 more days of separation during these (sadly, kinda precedented) times was not good for either of our mental healhts. We’ll probably have to mask around each other for a couple days and use the guest room, but yay, yay, yay I get to see the BF today.
TBone
@Ramalama: Barbara Stanwyk starred in a movie version of So Big.
What a small world it is, sometimes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Big_(1932_film)
lowtechcyclist
@stacib:
My recommendation: scan the photos, then do whatever strikes your fancy with the originals and frames.
My wife, who was left with a metric ton of photos by her mother and grandmother, has used the Epson FF-680W FastFoto scanner, which can be used to scan batches of photos at a time. She has been very happy with it, and would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.
ETA: The china’s more of a challenge. If there’s a thrift store around you that supports good causes, I’d just donate it to the thrift store. There’s far more china out there than people use anymore – we usually get one or two holiday dinners a year where we use our wedding china, and we’re probably way above average these days.
Major Major Major Major
@Starfish: ah, the woobles were my entryway, great product for total beginners.
Starfish
@TBone:
@Kayla Rudbek:
There was an athiesm blog back when blogging was big called A Daily Dose of Ingersoll. It was great.
Starfish
@Major Major Major Major: I moved from doing more complicated amigurumi to doing a Wooble because I was doing a workshop for people to learn amigurumi.
Trollhattan
Whee, somebody’s doing donuts behind Costco, a.k.a. our office parking lot. Glad I parked on the other side.
Slow day?
Why, yes.
Trollhattan
@stacib:
I have just the thing: Gather Box.
TBone
@stacib: I got special scrapbooks and acid free paper and decorating supplies and spent a lot of hours making scrapbooks that will hopefully pass the test of time of the next one or two hundred years!
One farmhouse find was an old brownie camera with film still in it. I paid a local court photographer in Media, PA who was a film specialist to develop the pics. A magical record of our family farm in about 1915-1918 – we had a team of horses named Pat & Dick! Photos of my Great Uncle as a grade school would-be aviator in his cap with a toy airplane, my grandfather (16 years my Great Uncle’s senior, so big brother) on his cross country skis, my Great Grandma’s gardens, henhouse, etc.
Scrapbooks are also filled with all sorts of Americana and docs saved over the years. I have a menu from the White Star Line cruise an ancestor took, Chicago World’s Fair souvenirs, etc.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition
If you preserve things, your family may come to appreciate them, in time 😉
Princess
@ArchTeryx: Before you all fantasize too much about your Underground Railroad you better ask whether Canada wants (any of) you and the answer is an unequivocal no. Canada is cutting immigration targets night and it’s priority will be things like doctors and nurses and people who can build the housing we don’t have. This isn’t 1860; Canada isn’t desperate to increase its population right now. Quite the reverse.
Major Major Major Major
@Starfish: I bought a cool book of sea creature patterns in Japan (got back last week), excited to make some of them. Patterns are in the international standard and I don’t know much of the vocab, so it’ll be educational too!
I also got a cool one of like moorish-inspired tiles for mats and hangings which are really neat looking but pretty complex.
Major Major Major Major
@Princess: I’d hope Canada would at least accept some trans refugees if they’re facing “re-education” or their basic daily healthcare is outlawed…
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: 💙 I am almost surprised to find his work among our old books – some of my ancestors were very religious! But my family farm gave land for the one-roon schoolhouse on our property as well as giving to the church. School was a really big deal – that little old schoolhouse just fell over a few years ago. I have a little school booklet they had printed for the graduating class of my Grandad saved in a scrapbook.
My Great Great Great Aunts were all D.A.R.
TBone
@Starfish: oooh!
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
Not sure any refugees are welcome anywhere these days.
Gin & Tonic
From Matt Levine’s newsletter today (you should subscribe to it, BTW):
He was talking about a potential merger of Twitter and Truth Social.
BlueGuitarist
@TBone:
Awesome! I’m looking forward to reading more Ingersoll and would appreciate some pointers.
Here’s my starting point:
Ingersoll:
“I am not a Christian, but I do believe in the religion of justice, of kindness. I believe in humanity. I do believe that usefulness is the highest possible form of worship. The useful man is the good man, the useful man is the real saint. I care nothing about supernatural myths and mysteries, but I do care for human beings. I have a little short creed of my own, not very hard to understand, that has in it no contradictions, and it is this:
Happiness is the only good.
The time to be happy is now.
The place to be happy is here.
The way to be happy is to make others so.“
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
Bluesky is going gangbusters right now. The next year will be an interesting one in the microblogging war.
Baud
@BlueGuitarist:
Cool.
Ramona
What a lovely bunch of kind, pretty people! Hello!
Trollhattan
Utterly predictable. Next: tax credits for new coal-fired locomotives and semi trucks.
rikyrah
Looks like a nice group :)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Scamp Dog:
Great. I’ll make a list of handles from this thread, then reach out to Water Girl.
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
Work? What the hell is work?
OK, OK I know what work is, I did it for 60 years. Not counting paper route. I’m just done with anything more than showering, dressing, eating, sleeping, lounging. Went to a VA lunch on Tuesday, medical appointment on Friday, damn this is a busy week….
Steve LaBonne
@BlueGuitarist: Allow me to introduce you to the mother lode: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38813/38813-h/38813-h.htm
TBone
@BlueGuitarist: 💜💜💜
I’ll be starting at page 1 and trying not to damage the old book while reading, it’s spine almost is coming apart but not quite. In fact, I should just read it at the archive link I posted but that’s no fun!
I got through the Publisher’s (Dresden) foreword today.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trollhattan:
“Tax Reform” legislation. Good ole (R) dog whistle for tax cuts for the wealthy.
If Tesla is “onboard” with it, it’s because they’ve watched their market share shrink, it’s still big but with other “legacy” automakers finally starting to bring out products that can easily compete with Tesla, and that tax credit sure helps, they’ve been making inroads. And have a lot of capital going into EV manufacturing. Yes, some Teslas qualify for the tax credit but given Musk’s personality, this is probably his chance to again stick it to other auto makers. I’m sure GM and Ford lobbyists will be working Capitol Hill like mad to make sure it doesn’t happen. We’ll see if they can outlobby the tech bros.
We’ve talked about this some in Bolt world and again, nobody’s surprised it’s being put forth.
Belafon
@Trollhattan: They do that, then I’m all for letting Chinese EVs in the country.
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: 💚
Timill
@lowtechcyclist: Replacements Ltd may be interested in the china.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: any country would be a fool to leave the top 1% of America’s software engineers on the table like this.
Jackie
Shit. He really did it:
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
On occasion, countries have done foolish things.
TBone
@TBone: crap that auto correct apostrophe slipped by! GAH!
Its! Not the contraction of it is, you stupid dumb phone!
artem1s
Telsa (Elon) stopped caring about the EV part a long time ago. their initial business model was R&D for battery storage tech so it would have more market applications. Back around 2010 they were in the middle of developing solar shingles and outfitting homes with them and banks of batteries so they would be more energy efficient and also feed the grid. They were ready to go to market and start shingling some test homes in the SW but then dropped it completely. Now the only thing they care about is the self driving AI tech. That company is ruined. The faster they go bankrupt and Ford buys their patents the better for all of us.
TBone
@Jackie: brain worms for everyone! Woo hoo!
Steve LaBonne
@Jackie: If measles has a stock, you should buy it.
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: 🎯
Baud
@Jackie:
I hope he nominates the falcon for undersecretary.
Belafon
@Jackie: Caligula’s appointing his whole stable.
sab
@stacib: I am in the same boat. I only have step-kids and I am tired of housing the family relics when there are actual descendants who should be taking responsibility.
sab
@lowtechcyclist: Thank you. That is helpful advice.
Ramalama
@TBone: oh my.
Ramalama
@Steve LaBonne: You get an iron lung, and you get an iron lung, and you get an iron lung.
stacib
@lowtechcyclist: Thanks for the suggestions, but then I’m still stuck with what to do with them. I’m 65 now, and guessing I won’t be around for another 50 years. As for the china, this was originally my grandmother’s who along with my grandfather were sharecroppers on a plantation in Mississippi. Owning anything for a poor black family was big, and owing real china was a HUGE deal. My generation is almost all gone, and the younger folks are a hard no. It’s killing me to think nobody in the family wants it knowing the sacrifices that were likely made to even acquire it. I also don’t want to leave this as an open issue which will guilt my kids into doing something they don’t want to do.
TBone
@Baud: 😆
Cheryl from Maryland
@stacib: Same here, both for my side of the family and for my husband’s family, because they don’t care. I set up a public Ancestry.com family tree for the both of us; each person’s entry has a gallery for photos and documents. My understanding is that even if you quit funding you account, your tree remains. I can then discard the paper with no regrets.
TBone
@stacib: the scrap books I found have special plastic sleeves on the pages – I slipped photos out of their frames for the portraits and just slid them into the book page of decorative acid free paper (photo affixed with special glue stick), making cute little labels. The smaller photos got special acid free corners to hold them on the page. You make a page on the special paper, decorate (or not! some got notes from me instead) and slide the page into its insert. It can go quickly if you’re not fancy with it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Apparently Trump picked RFK for HHS
Fair Economist
Great to see meetups going. They are so much fun.
karensky
@ArchTeryx: thank you for what you are doing!!
Princess
@Major Major Major Major: I wouldn’t bet on it. I would not plan around it. Several provinces already have anti-trans legislation and proposals.
ArchTeryx
@Princess: Nobody ever said it would be done through one of their official border crossings. What the Canadian government – and ESPECIALLY the border baboons – want isn’t of any concern of ours. They’re going to go hard right. Of course they’ll try and close the border. They did around the time of the actual Underground Railroad, too. And even if, somehow, Canadian immigration catches up with us, that’s why we are setting up waypoints.
And not all of the actual border crossings are the same, either. There are always ways, when your life is on the line. Ask the refugees in THIS country.
karensky
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I read the CNN piece. So much magical thinking and downright idiocy!
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Yeah, I figured we would do the usual zooming for Thanksgiving..
I also thought we might have a weekend zoom soon, too.
Lyrebird
@stacib: That’s truly amazing. I wish I knew of the right museum, because there ought to be a museum that would portray that history your grandparents helped make.
FWIW, we use china cups and little plates to hold things other than tea or food… like paper clips, or a spot for a wallet on your dresser.
JAFD
@WaterGirl:
Hello everyone!
Next weekend will be the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention, in Cherry Hill, NJ – philcon.org – and I plan to be there, good Lawd willin’ and the creeks don’t rise. So if you want to have a meetup there, Ms. WaterGirl can pass me a message, or just ask around the con suite.
The docs want me to show up on Tuesday the 26th, so they can whack me open and put in a pacemaker. Say they, I should be able to go home, later that day, but probably disrupts my Thanksgiving travel plans.
Anyway, the docs, nurses, other medical people do, every day, what would have been minor miracles back when I was young, and I’ve been the beneficiary of a bunch of them, this will be the latest. So shall be thankful even if Thanksgivinging alone.
Stay healthy and happy, everyone !